Did not facilitate access for gatecrasher: Indian Embassy

The Indian Embassy on Wednesday said it did not facilitate the entry of a third gatecrasher to US President Barack Obama’s State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after the Secret Service claimed that the individual sneaked in by boarding an Indian delegation bus.

US media has identified the gatecrasher as Carlos Allen, a 39-year-old entrepreneur whose web site identifies him as chief executive of Hush Galleria -- “an exclusive and luxurious private social club whose members enjoy unparallelled access to elite movers and shakers“.

“The person is not known to the Indian Embassy. We did not seek or facilitate any access for this person,” Rahul Chhabra, spokesman of the Indian Embassy, said in a statement.

The Secret Service had on Monday said investigations have revealed that a third individual entered the White House on November 24 without invitation other than the attention-hungry Virginia couple Tareq and Michaele Salahi. It said he came in the bus of the Indian delegation.

Media reports here also suggested that the man travelled in a bus carrying top Indian CEOs, who were last-minute invitees to the State Dinner.

Neither the Secret Service nor the State Department or the Indian Embassy has revealed the identity of the person so far but in various media interviews, Allen’s attorney conceded that his client is indeed the person in question. At the same time, he claimed that Allen was invited.

“He participated in the reception, he participated in the dinner; we’re not denying that,” A Scott Bolden, Allen’s lawyer, told The New YorkTimes .